French filmmaker Claire Denis (High Life) made waves in 2001 with the erotic cannibal thriller Trouble Every Day. Now, the auteur is in talks to venture back into cannibal territory to helm crime drama The Soap Maker, Variety reports today. The English-language film is a remake of the 1977 dark comedy Gran Bollito (Black Journal) […]
French filmmaker Claire Denis (High Life) made waves in 2001 with the erotic cannibal thriller Trouble Every Day. Now, the auteur is in talks to venture back into cannibal territory to helm crime drama The Soap Maker, Variety reports today.
The English-language film is a remake of the 1977 dark comedy Gran Bollito (Black Journal) by director Mauro Bolognini. The cult film starred Shelley Winters as “a serial killer who cooked the bodies of her victims into soap, cake and cookies.”
What’s even more intriguing is that both The Soap Maker and Gran Bollito are based on the infamous true account of Italy’s Leonarda Cianciulli, a serial killer who emerged in the late ’30s and disposed of her victims’ bodies by incorporating them into baked treats, soaps, and candles. Producers of The Soap Maker have access to Cianciulli’s diary, which was allegedly written in the psychiatric prison where she was held after confessing to her crimes. Variety notes that the project will incorporate the witchcraft detailed in the diary that allowed Cianciulli to lure victims.